Chunjuan Tang

Low temperature synthesis and optical property of ZnS nanotubes

Zinc sulphide (ZnS) nanotubes were synthesised via simple surfactant emulsion template under hydrothermal conditions. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscope were used to characterise the nanotubes. The results indicate that the nanotubes are composed of nanoparticles. The diameters of the nanotubes vary from 300 to 700 nm and lengths range from 1 to 2 µm. In addition, it is found that the reaction time, reaction temperature and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide play key roles in the phase and morphology control of ZnS nanotubes. Furthermore, room temperature photoluminescence was recorded to investigate the optical property of the obtained product. The stable and strong green emission band centred at 513 nm was attributed to some self-activated centres, probably vacancy states or interstitial states related to the peculiar structure.

Facile synthesis of Bi2S3 nanoflowers arrays

Bi2S3 nanoflowers arrays have been synthesised by a facile hydrothermal method. The nanoflowers are composed of nanobelts. The Bi2S3 nanobelts are along [1 3 0] direction with a width of about 100 nm and a length of about 2 µm. It is found that the substrate, the height of the substrate in the autoclave and the reaction time play key roles for the formation of the nanoflowers arrays. The growth of the nanoflowers is attributed to the lowest interfacial tension and the growth of the nanobelts can be ascribed to the anisotropic growth of the Bi2S3 nanocrystals. The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum shows that there is a strong and broad PL band in the wavelength range from 650 to 800 nm. It is expected that the Bi2S3 nanoflowers arrays grown on the substrate could have potential application in optics and catalysts.